A hairdresser who worked in Sülz until his arrest has been facing charges of sexual abuse before the Cologne Regional Court since Friday. The 38-year-old accused is said to have sexually touched a boy who was ten years old at the time of the crime while cutting his hair and to have raped him on a later occasion. The man from Kerpen faces a prison sentence of several years.
Cologne: Victim was a regular customer in Sülzer hair salon
The boy, who is represented in court by a victim’s lawyer, had been a customer at the defendant’s hair salon for some time. The parents now send the child to the hairdresser alone. During the first crime in September last year, the man reached into the victim’s pants while he was sitting in the barber’s chair and touched him inappropriately, the prosecutor said.
At another appointment six months later, according to the prosecution, the accused led the victim into the bathroom of the salon under the pretext of washing her hair, locked the door and sexually assaulted the child. He then cut the boy’s hair and said that he should come to the salon more often. Apparently, the ten-year-old then confided in his parents.
Cologne hairdresser has been in custody for months
The police arrested him. The accused has been in custody for several months, and the trial has now started – albeit with a delay, as the indictment had to be translated for the accused, who is from Syria. Defense attorney Tobias Westkamp then announced that his client had already made a written statement.
However, the trial observers did not get to hear the defendant’s statement. Attorney Westkamp requested that the public be excluded because the statement would address circumstances from the most personal areas of life, “including sex life.” The public interest does not outweigh the interests of the defendant in this case, said Westkamp.
Cologne District Court: Child should be spared from giving evidence
The presiding judge agreed with the defense attorney’s statements, saying that a corresponding decision to exclude the public had already been prepared. However, the judge expressly emphasized that the young victim’s personal rights must also be protected. The defendant then testified for several hours, apparently also about his life story.
Again in public main proceedings, the judge ordered that the victim’s police statement should be introduced into the trial in writing, so that the child would also have a witness statement in the courtroom. This suggests that the defendant admitted to the crime. In disputed circumstances, the victims usually have to give evidence. The trial will continue.
